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Microsoft adCenter Desktop goes into beta, for some

Microsoft has released the adCenter Desktop beta to US and Canadian …

Ealier this month, Microsoft started letting some beta testers try out its in-text advertising solution, Gaze. Now the company has released the Microsoft adCenter Desktop beta, an offline tool that enables seamless integration with adCenter online, to select individuals. Only US or Canadian advertisers with fewer than 100,000 keywords in their combined adCenter accounts, (Microsoft is hoping to target advertisers with keyword totals that exceed the 100,000 limit in summer 2009) may be offered to download the beta via a "What's New" banner on Microsoft adCenter, according to the adCenter Blog for Advertisers.

The adCenter Desktop allows users to download their campaigns to work on them and then later upload new changes or additions to their adCenter account. As you can see in the above screenshot, Microsoft made sure to implement the "Ribbon" user interface that is really no longer exclusive to Microsoft Office 2007. There are three tabs in adCenter Desktop:

Home Tab: where you can perform some of the most basic tasks, such as importing, exporting, downloading, uploading, and previewing changes.

Manage Tab: where you'll be able to manage your account; you can create new campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. You can also migrate negative keywords to different levels in the campaign hierarchy and perform editorial checks before uploading to adCenter.

Research Tab: where you can sift through data to help you optimize your campaigns. You can discover new keywords based on an entered keyword or Web address, display the estimated average bid amount for your selected terms, or review the search query percentage by age and/or gender.